A Bumpy Ride On The Internet

Purchasing Airline Tickets On The Web Is Supposed To Be Convenient And Affordable. But Complex Rules And A Lack Of Computer Knowledge Leave Many Consumers Frustrated.

February 6, 2000|By Julie Carr Smyth of The Sentinel Staff

Don't let the hype mislead you. Buying an airline ticket on the Internet - touted as fast, easy and affordable - isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

While airlines and hawkers of cheap airline tickets sing the praises of Internet booking, consumer groups and travel agencies are filling their files with horror stories.

Michelina Jones, a travel agent in DeLand, recently saw one of her clients confounded by an Internet ticket purchase. The woman used her own credit card to buy a ticket for her daughter. The ticket came back in Mom's name.

``The airline wouldn't let her daughter use it, and they wouldn't give her a refund,'' Jones said. ``So now she's got a $400 round-trip ticket with her name on it that leaves from Oregon.''

That story is not unusual.

The problems with using the Internet to buy an airline ticket are twofold: People either don't understand - or aren't made aware of - the complex rules that apply to tickets booked on the Internet; or consumers simply are unfamiliar with the technology.

The results can be frustrating or even disastrous: Tickets booked in the wrong name because someone used his or her credit card to book a ticket for a relative or friend; passengers arriving at the gate to find they have no seat because an online glitch kept their reservation from reaching the airline; seats that can't be changed or refunded accidentally reserved at unbearably early or late hours.

``Even though people have been doing it for a while, we're just now beginning to see the problems with it,'' said Nancy McKinley, a spokeswoman for the International Air Passengers Association. ``The skills [needed to make an online booking) are going to be hard for some people to master.''

Because of growing complaints about online booking, the U.S. Department of Transportation has broadened its review of the computerized airline reservations system to include the operation of Internet sites. The review, begun in 1997, is due to be done sometime this year, spokesman Bill Mosley said.

Since 1984, the DOT has regulated computer reservations systems used by travel agents to assure that major air carriers that run them didn't unfairly steer users to their airlines.

As those systems have been opened to online users and confronted with competition from other services, the government must decide how best to monitor or limit online booking practices.

``The basic question is whether it's something we should or could regulate,'' Mosley said.

Until that decision is made, though, Mosley said no one is licensing sites or evaluating their content for consumers. And with new online sites springing up all the time, it's impossible to determine how many sell airline tickets.

Buying an airline ticket online is similar to buying one by phone. For instance, you can go to an airline-run Web site, plug in an itinerary, view the corresponding flight information that pops up on your screen, and purchase a ticket using a credit-card number. The convenience is a big lure for many travelers.

But the system can grow complicated if you're a bargain hunter - advertised air fares aren't always available or they carry heavy restrictions. Consumers can spend hours on various sites - checking, say, Cheaptick- ets.com against Travel1.com against Bestfares.com.

``They can spend hours and hours and hours of their time looking for a good fare that we could find with the click of a button,'' said Linda Sordel, an agent for American Express in Orlando. ``Then they think they've found a great fare when, in fact, it's not available.''

VESTED INTEREST

Of course, travel agents have reason to dislike the trend toward Internet booking. As airlines lure increasing numbers of customers to their computers, the carriers have deeply slashed commissions to agents that have hurt their businesses. But agents insist shortcomings of the system - and the confusion they cause consumers - are real.

And airlines are largely unsympathetic to botched Internet purchases.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for US Airways, said tickets booked on the Internet must have the same restrictions as any other ticket.

``You wouldn't treat that any differently than you would a ticket booked through a travel agent,'' said Castelveter, whose airline runs its own online reservations system as well as participating in Priceline.com. ``The same rules apply.''

Knowing what those rules are is often the problem. Any travel agent will gladly tell you airline tickets are rife with guidelines and restrictions. Most Internet sites list them somewhere, but finding them - and reading them all - requires determination.

McKinley of the passengers' association said some Internet sites do better than others at disclosing terms and restrictions on the tickets they sell. While some make rules readily available, others require following a convoluted series of links perhaps unfamiliar to novices or provide a sheet of restrictions only after a flight is booked.